The legal profession is entering a historic turning point as AI, client expectations, demographics, and economic pressure collide to transform how legal work is done and valued. In this opening Keynote, explore what’s really changing in the business and practice of law—from AI integration and compensation practices to evolving talent needs—and what it will take to stay relevant and competitive in the years ahead.

This hall explores how small and mid-size firms adapt to a fast-changing legal market, with practical strategies on growth, talent, technology, and leadership to stay competitive and build for what’s next.

Join our opening forward-looking conversation on how AI, technology, client expectations, and economic pressures are reshaping the business and practice of law for small and mid-size firms. This panel will unpack what’s really changing in 2026—from pricing and profitability to talent and client service—and how agile firms can turn disruption into competitive advantage.

• Where small firms are actually improving profitability today—and the decisions that drive it

• Examine clients changing expectations on speed, pricing, and how firms risk losing work when they miss the mark

• How firms are using AI and automation to cut admin time and take on more work without increasing headcount; Should you buy or build?

What are the fastest-growing small and mid-size firms doing differently right now to capture market share and build fierce client loyalty? Explore real-world strategies and operational shifts that forward-thinking practices are using to meet rising demands for speed, transparency, and value. By examining what is actually working on the ground today, attendees will walk away with practical insights for outmaneuvering larger competitors and elevating their firm's client experience.

• Explore how cultivating a culture of agility allows your firm to adapt to market disruptions faster than legacy competitors

• Discuss ways to rethink your core value proposition to meet modern client expectations for transparency and strategic partnership

• Learn to align your operations and technology investments to drive rapid responsiveness without sacrificing the bottom line

This session explores how firms can build stronger, more sustainable teams by rethinking how they attract, compensate, develop, and retain talent in today’s legal market. Learn how expectations are shifting across the legal profession—spanning newer lawyers and experienced practitioners alike—including compensation, flexibility, career progression, and workplace culture. Walk away with practical approaches to improving retention, motivating high performers, and building more effective legal teams.

• Discuss new and evolving compensation structures that align with performance, expectations, and retention outcomes

• Practical insights to build a compelling employer brand that reflects what legal professionals now value in their careers

• How to leverage technology to streamline talent management, performance tracking, and career development processes

• Explore how tech and AI is impacting the apprenticeship model and the partner/associate ratio

Cross-hall networking lunch with exhibitors and attendees.

A candid look at how a small firm used AI, technology, and operational redesign to modernize how it works, reduce friction across core processes, and improve profitability. The session also explores the people side of transformation—including shifting skill requirements, decisions around outsourcing vs. building in-house capability, and the practical challenges of upskilling and change management along the way.

• Leveraging AI and technology tools to streamline operations and reduce manual workload

• Explore the nuances around outsourcing vs. in-house including capabilities, costs, and execution

• How workflow redesign and new skills requirements improved turnaround times, client experience, and profitability

• Discuss at your tables how agile your firm is today and what to improve

A behind-the-scenes discussion exploring how legal recognition programs—including awards, rankings, and editorial features such as the Canadian Law Awards, Lexpert rankings, Rising Stars, and Top 25 reports—are developed, evaluated, and positioned in the market. The panel brings together perspectives to unpack what actually drives recognition and how firms and in-house teams can engage more strategically.

• How submissions and profiles are assessed across awards, rankings, and editorial programs—and what differentiates standout entries

• What judges, editors, and reviewers are really looking for - and common mistakes

• How legal teams use recognition to build visibility, strengthen reputation, and support business development, growth and recruitment

• The strategic value of participating—even beyond winning—including internal alignment, storytelling, and market positioning

Law firms are entering a pivotal transition period as senior partners retire and the next generation redefines leadership, ownership, and career paths. This session explores how firms can build structured succession strategies that ensure continuity and long-term firm value.

• Navigating partner retirements without disrupting client relationships or revenue

• Rethinking partnership models amid shifting expectations from younger lawyers

• Building leadership pipelines and preparing next-generation firm leaders

• Structuring compensation, equity, and governance for a smooth transition

In solo, small, and mid-sized firms, sustaining high performance without burnout is not just a wellbeing issue—it is directly tied to firm stability, profitability, and continuity. When workload pressure and burnout are not managed, firms risk losing capacity and diversity, weakening client relationships, and eroding revenue in ways that often happen quietly but have significant long-term impact.

• How unmanaged workload and burnout risk quietly erode firm capacity, client relationships, and revenue

• Organizational approaches that protect performance while reducing overload in lean, high-responsibility teams

• Practical ways to build more sustainable operating rhythms that support long-term firm stability and value

A candid conversation with a senior law firm leader on how they have built and sustained a strong, inclusive culture in a high-pressure professional environment. The discussion explores the real leadership decisions behind shaping behaviour, maintaining alignment, and driving consistent performance across teams.

• Discuss leadership actions shape and reinforce culture in a small or mid-sized firm

• Using effective communication to build trust, alignment, and accountability across teams

• How inclusive leadership practices support stronger performance in high-pressure environments

Hall two examines how AI is reshaping legal practice and business models, from workflows and risk management to pricing, talent, and changing client expectations.

AI is no longer a theoretical debate—it is actively drafting contracts, summarizing case law, and parsing data across Canadian legal teams right now. As the initial hype settles, the real-world dangers of data privacy, hallucinations, and unvetted tools are becoming urgent challenges. This opening panel provides a blunt assessment of where AI excels today, where it falls flat, and the immediate steps legal leaders must take to safely adopt and govern this tech.

• What do we mean by “AI” today—and do we understand enough about how it works to assess the risk?

• Discover exactly how workflows are being safely and successfully handed over to AI

• Understand the very real risks of data leakage and hallucinations and the necessary guardrails to protect your organization

• Learn the critical steps to vet vendors, train your team, and establish a secure AI governance strategy

Whether it is a sprawling litigation file, a regulatory audit, or a complex breach response, today’s matters come with a crushing volume of emails, files, and transcripts. This session will share practical ways to spend less time buried in review and more time on strategy. You will explore how to bring all your case materials into one streamlined process so legal teams can review evidence faster, maintain defensibility, and turn a document dump into a strategic advantage.

• Learn how to quickly organize and make sense of massive files, evidence dumps, and messy records—without IT headaches.

• Discover practical ways to combine legal judgment with smart tools so you can find critical facts faster and meet tight deadlines.

• See how to transform thousands of pages of documents and transcripts into instantly searchable, reliable insights you can actually use.

Cut through the hype with these fast-paced, 10-minute demonstrations of tools that are actively transforming legal practice. See exactly how targeted technology can eliminate administrative drag and drive immediate value for your team.

As AI tools and low-code platforms make it easier to develop in-house solutions, legal teams are facing a critical decision: buy off-the-shelf or build custom tools tailored to their workflows. While building offers flexibility and control, it also introduces hidden costs—from ongoing maintenance and developer dependency to governance and risk. This panel explores how legal leaders are navigating the trade-offs, and what factors should drive the right decision for an organization.

• Unpack the true cost of building in-house—including maintenance, developer reliance, and long-term risk

• Compare when to buy vs. build based on team size, budget, and operational complexity

• Explore how AI and low-code tools are changing the equation—and where they still fall short

Networking lunch

As law firms integrate generative AI into their workflows, corporate legal departments are fundamentally rethinking how they buy legal services. General Counsel are no longer just asking if their external firms use AI—they expect to see how those efficiencies are passed down to the bottom line. But how does one bill for 10 minutes of AI? This panel unpacks the new baseline for external counsel, sharing candid insights on how technology is altering their expectations for turnaround times, transparency, and traditional billing models.

• Discover how in-house leaders expect AI to impact the billable hour and drive alternative pricing models

• Understand the new corporate baseline for responsiveness, transparency, and faster document turnarounds

• Learn what GCs actually want—and are willing to pay for—when it comes to lawyers resourcing their files

Cut through the hype with these fast-paced, 10-minute demonstrations of tools that are actively transforming legal practice. See exactly how targeted technology can eliminate administrative drag and drive immediate value for your team.

Most legal professionals have already experimented with generative AI, but getting reliable results for actual legal work requires more than a simple query. In this highly practical session, dive into how to build dependable, repeatable workflows. Get practical tips for prompting for tasks like due diligence and bespoke drafting, and then get a glimpse into the near future: AI agents capable of autonomously executing multi-step legal processes.

• Learn how to design multi-step prompts that apply specific legal reasoning across large sets of documents.

• Master practical techniques to keep AI models focused on your facts and minimize the risk of subtle errors.

• Explore the emerging role of AI coding agents and how autonomous tools will soon reshape daily legal practice.

As AI tools become highly accessible, the line between approved technology and unvetted "shadow AI" is rapidly. Legal leaders are facing a new frontier of privacy, fraud, and ethical risks as employees quietly use consumer platforms to process sensitive client data. This session explores how to establish practical governance, secure your workflows against data leakage, and prepare for the unique liabilities introduced by next-generation autonomous tech.

• Discover strategies to identify and manage the hidden risks of employees using unapproved AI platforms

• Explore practical governance frameworks that protect client confidentiality without stalling innovation

• Discuss the growing external threats such as fraud, ransomware, and AI-driven system exploitation

As AI evolves from drafting documents to analyzing case law and predicting outcomes, the line between a software tool and a strategic partner is blurring. In this engaging session, two legal leaders will present differing perspectives on the practical and ethical realities of treating AI as true "co-counsel." What are the boundaries of professional responsibility, machine judgment, and whether relying on an algorithm for case strategy is a competitive advantage or a liability risk.

• How might client expectations shift when AI can instantly pressure-test legal strategies?

• Examine the evolving standard of competence and the future malpractice risks of not using AI

• Examine how professional obligations and legal ethics evolve as lawyers rely more on AI, and where accountability sits

• How will lawyers redefine core value proposition in a market where algorithms can generate advice

This hall explores how the GC–law firm relationship is evolving, focusing on shifting client expectations, legal operations, leadership, and how firms must adapt to deliver greater speed, value, and strategic alignment.

As we move towards 2027, GCs and senior lawyers explore how expectations of the legal function are shifting toward faster decision-making, clearer advice, greater risk tolerance, and stronger commercial alignment. For large law firms, the message is clear: without a deep understanding of client pressures, traditional legal delivery risks slowing business execution rather than enabling it, making it essential to rethink how advice is framed, delivered, and acted on.

• Discuss where GC expectations are diverging most sharply from traditional law firm delivery

• How speed, risk, and commercial pressure – alongside global regulatory exposures - are reshaping legal decision-making

• What law firms are getting wrong—and what is now expected as standard, especially in a more global legal and business environment

General Counsel operate in a global environment shaped by accelerating legislative, technological, and geopolitical change that is directly influencing corporate strategy, risk appetite, and day-to-day decision-making. In this fast-paced presentation, we examine the most pressing legal shifts facing Canadian businesses today and what they require in practice for compliance, contracting, and executive advice.

• Building practical AI guardrails that protect data without slowing innovation

• Stress-testing contracts and supply chains against ongoing trade friction and global instability

• Strengthen incident response readiness in an environment of faster breaches and increased executive accountability

• Navigating labour and workforce-related legal risk and litigation

Many in-house lawyers are promoted for their technical expertise, only to find their role is increasingly focused on leading teams, managing change, and driving operational transformation. As legal departments modernize through new technologies and workflows, the greatest challenge is rarely technical—it is human resistance. This session explores the leadership capabilities required to guide legal teams through change and develop future-ready talent

• Leading legal teams through operational and technological change without losing performance or engagement

• Building capability and judgment in junior lawyers for a faster, more complex legal environment

• Managing capacity, burnout risk, and team resilience in high-pressure legal functions

A focused look at how top-performing law firms are fundamentally redesigning how legal work is structured, priced, and delivered in response to changing GC expectations. This session moves beyond theory to examine the practical shifts in workflow design, technology adoption, and client integration that are reshaping the modern legal service model.

• Explore how leading firms are restructuring legal work that separate high-value judgment from repeatable, technology-enabled tasks

• How pricing, scoping, and service delivery are evolving toward more structured, and value-based models

• Discuss how firms are embedding more closely with GC teams to deliver faster and more integrated legal support

• Impact of AI on mentorship programs, learning and development, and the apprenticeship model

Attendees are presented a real-world scenario illustrating how geopolitical tension, economic volatility, and regulatory disruption are converging to create immediate legal and commercial pressure for a large organisation. Participants will work through the scenario in table groups, identifying risks, decision points, and practical responses required from both in-house teams and external counsel.

• Collaborate with peers to map key legal and regulatory risks in real-time

• Develop immediate response options and escalation pathways for the executive team

• Take away a practical framework for mitigating exposure while maintaining business continuity

This session examines how leading legal departments are redesigning how work is managed, measured, and delivered as AI reshapes legal operations. It focuses on the practical changes driving faster, more controlled, and more value-driven legal service delivery—and what this means for how law firms engage with and support their GC clients.

• Redesigning workflows and intake systems to improve speed, consistency, and control

• Using AI data and performance metrics to manage legal work as an operating system

• Aligning external counsel with internal legal operations priorities and reporting expectations

GCs and senior law firm leaders explore the real-world drivers behind successful, enduring partnerships—what earns trust, strengthens alignment, and drives long-term value. The discussion focuses on how expectations are evolving and what firms must consistently deliver to remain indispensable in a more competitive and transparent legal market. 

• Examine the practical factors that strengthen and sustain high-performing GC–law firm relationships

• Explore how firms can better align with client expectations on value, service, and strategic insight 

• Identify what differentiates firms that consistently retain and grow mandates 

• Discuss how cross-border complexity is shaping stronger, more integrated partnerships